Remarks by Sen. Ed Murray at the signing of House Bill 3104, expanding the rights and responsibilities of domestic partners

As prepared

Today we celebrate another step on the road to full equality for the LGBT community.

We celebrate the courage of those lesbian and gay families who came forward to tell the stories of their lives.

We celebrate the courage of legislators, democratic and republican, who voted for equality.

We celebrate the courage of the governor’s leadership.

We celebrate the courage of so many in our community, from those who first petitioned the legislature for equality in 1977 through the arrival of Cal Anderson in 1987, to all of you gathered here today in 2008, particularly to my now five legislative colleagues.

As I said last year; Today is a beginning and not an end.

It signifies not only promises kept, but promises yet to keep.

Today is also a sign of hope for our families that one day we will receive the full recognition we deserve.

The arrival of that future rests in your hands more than in my hands and the hands of my colleagues.

Ours is a movement greater than individual or any politician. It is a movement that continues to succeed because of each of you.

During darker days, when we attended too many funerals, we often sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

Today, my friends, we are almost over that rainbow, and as the song says;

“…the dreams that you dare to dream Really do come true.”

Thank you very much.

Return to Sen. Murray's home page